Three-time Australia Supercars Championship title holder Scott McLaughlin is off to race in the 2021 NTT IndyCar Series. It is a significant step for a Supercars driver to head to the US to further their career. It is also significant that he will drive for Team Penske. However, the most significant thing is that Scott McLaughlin is a ‘tin-top’ driver heading to race in the highly competitive NTT IndyCar Series with virtually no single seater experience behind him.
If he had asked my advice I would have said something like this. “Well Scott, why don’t you give St Pete’s a miss, head home to NZ, quarantine (we’ll arrange a simulator for you) and get in both some Formula Ford and Formula First rounds before Christmas. Then we can arrange a drive for you in the 2021 Toyota Racing Series. It will be a bit of a crash course but it should set you up for more single seater racing in the US.”
Well, that never happened and someone who knows what he is doing is calling the shots! That is team owner Roger Penske and he has plenty of knowledge and experience to have confidence that McLaughlin can do the job.
So I put some questions directly to Roger Penske to understand more behind McLaughlin’s move to single seaters:
Given that Scott McLaughlin has very limited single seater experience, what has Penske personally seen in McLaughlin that gives him confidence that he has what it takes to compete in such a top level category as the IndyCar Series?
He replied:
“Scott has done an incredible job since he joined DJR Team Penske. He has demonstrated a great ability to adapt as a driver, to communicate and work well within our team, to represent our partners and to win consistently on the track. After all that Scott had accomplished in Supercars, he was ready for a new challenge and we believe he will be a great fit for Team Penske to complete our four-car team in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES next season.”
So, whose idea was it?
“We have talked with Scott in the past about his interest in racing in the United States and driving one of our cars. As we looked at it, we thought there may be an opportunity for him in INDYCAR so we worked through schedules to bring him over for some testing last spring, before the pandemic shut things down, and he did a great job. Since then we have been working to put a program together so Scott could come aboard and complete a four-car lineup at Team Penske. Last week, we were excited to announce that he will race a full season with us in 2021.”
The deal is done, there is no turning back. So I asked Roger, what is the biggest challenge that McLaughlin will face as a full time IndyCar driver?
“There will certainly be many challenges as Scott transitions to INDYCAR, but he has already shown how quickly he can adapt and be competitive in these cars and he has the benefit of an experienced team and championship teammates around him to help even out that learning curve.
“Scott may not have as much single-seater experience as some rookies have had entering INDYCAR, but he is a proven champion and a true racer. He has the skills and work ethic to succeed here and our team will help him get there. There is also another champion from a different racing series that will be an INDYCAR rookie in 2021 (Jimmie Johnson) and what a tremendous opportunity it will be for the series and our fans to see both of these great drivers rise to meet a new challenge next season.”
2021 will be an exciting season to follow the NTT IndyCar Series.
Comments